Maguire, Rochfort

The Journal of Rochfort Maguire 1852–1854: Two Years at Point Barrow, Alaska, Aboard HMS Plover in the Search for Sir John Franklin. Volume II Only

London: Hakluyt Society, 1987. Second Series, No. 170. Hardcover. VOLUME II OF AN IMPORTANT WESTERN ARCTIC FRANKLIN SEARCH JOURNAL, RECORDING THE PROLONGED BRITISH PRESENCE AT POINT BARROW.
Volume II of Rochfort Maguire’s journal documenting HMS Plover and the western Arctic search for Sir John Franklin. While much of the Franklin Search literature concentrates on the larger expeditions working through the Canadian Arctic, Plover approached from the Pacific through Bering Strait and established a prolonged presence near Point Barrow in northern Alaska.

THE FRANKLIN SEARCH FROM THE WEST.
That extended stay transformed Maguire’s journal into considerably more than a conventional expedition narrative. His observations document everyday encounters between the ship’s company and the Iñupiat population, providing an important early record of sustained interaction between Europeans and Indigenous communities in northern Alaska.

THE JOURNAL AND ITS SUPPORTING RECORD.
This second volume continues the pagination of Volume I and carries Maguire’s account through its conclusion, followed by extensive documentary and editorial material. The complete work was edited by Arctic historian John R. Bockstoce, whose contextual scholarship places Plover within the strategy and logistics of the western Franklin searches.

The appendices broaden the documentary value of the journal with accounts relating to boat expeditions near Point Barrow and material concerning the Indigenous population of northern Alaska.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS: HAKLUYT SOCIETY SECOND SERIES NO. 170. Octavo hardcover, approximately 8.5 inches tall. Publisher’s cloth in original dust jacket. Volume II only. Pagination continues from Volume I, beginning at page 319 and extending through the main text and supporting material to approximately 584 pages, with index. Illustrated, including a folding map.

CONDITION: NEAR FINE / NEAR FINE. The binding is tight and square. Text is clean with light, even age-toning. Minimal shelf handling wear. The dust jacket is likewise Near Fine, without flaws of significance to note. A particularly clean example.

HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE: THE WESTERN SEARCH FOR FRANKLIN—A DIFFERENT FRONT IN THE SEARCH.
HMS Plover represents an important but less familiar part of the enormous international effort to discover the fate of Franklin. Rather than entering the Arctic from the Atlantic, the ship operated through Bering Strait and along the northern Alaskan coast, establishing a western base from which Franklin might be sought.

Its prolonged presence at Point Barrow produced something that the faster-moving search expeditions could not: an extended record of life in one Arctic location.

AN EARLY RECORD OF NORTHERN ALASKA.
Maguire consequently records not only naval operations and Arctic conditions but repeated interaction between British sailors and the Iñupiat people. The journal documents trade, communication, accommodation, misunderstanding, observation, and the practical relationships created by sustained proximity.

The work therefore crosses several collecting fields: the Franklin Search, Arctic exploration, Alaska, Royal Navy history, ethnography, and nineteenth-century encounters between European expeditions and Indigenous Arctic communities.

SUBJECTS: Sir John Franklin, Franklin Search, Rochfort Maguire, John Bockstoce, HMS Plover, Point Barrow, Alaska, Western Arctic, Northwest Passage, Royal Navy, Arctic Expeditions, Iñupiat, Indigenous Arctic Peoples, Nineteenth-Century Exploration, Arctic Exploration, Travel and Exploration, Journals, Maritime History, Naval History, Ethnography, Hakluyt Society Publications

Item #22366
ISBN: 0904180263

Price: $24.00